19 Free Presentation Tools to Wow Your Audience

In that time, people have both loved and hated it. However you feel about it, most business people need some way to deliver a presentation. The good news is that you’re no longer limited to PowerPoint for this purpose.

There are dozens of online tools that either work with PowerPoint files or let you start from scratch to create and deliver presentations that will wow your audience.

This roundup includes tools that are free (or have a free level) and excludes tools whose primary purpose is creating video. Here’s the roundup.

SlideShare

SlideShare has recently gained attention as one of the best business presentation sites around. To use it, you import a source file from PowerPoint, Word, PDF or other formats (and you can also import video with the paid pro version).

With SlideShare, you can gussy up your plain PowerPoint with an embedded YouTube video or audio file to make it a more media-rich experience for viewers. And once it’s done, you can embed or share it widely and share automatically to your LinkedIn account.

Analytics rounds out the reason why SlideShare is worth including here. For more on using SlideShare, read our recent roundup of SlideShare resources.

Google Presentations

Part of Google Drive, Google Presentations gives you a tool that mimic PowerPoint, but it has the advantage of being online.

Once your presentation is done, you can publish to the web, embed or share. The killer feature: multiple people can work on a presentation at once.

Prezi

Prezi is one of the most exciting presentation tools in this roundup. Although you can import PowerPoint, the best way to experience it is to create a Prezi from scratch.

You start with a canvas, some transformation tools and some whizzy templates with exciting transitions. Group ideas in frames and add symbols, shapes and diagrams.

A screenshot does not do justice to a finished presentation so it’s a good idea to check out some of the examples on the site. Though using the tools can be challenging, if you stick with it, the result will be like no presentation you have ever seen.

SlideRocket

SlideRocket has just been acquired by ClearSlide, so it remains to be seen how long it will stick around.

One of the early contenders in improving online presentations, one of the killer features is the ability to embed interactive content, such as from your Twitter feed. You can also add effects to almost any element of your presentation. A pro feature is the use of interactive forms within the presentation.

Interesting transitions include flipping, rotating and reflecting images and the animations are stunning. Killer feature: the ability to show your presentation online to up to 50 people too.

Zoho Show

Zoho Show is easy to use for anyone familiar with PowerPoint. It includes master slides, templates, customization, the ability to insert video and images, transitions and animations.

Interesting features include inline image editing, shape effects and easy flowchart building. The app allows simultaneous presentation editing by more than one person, broadcasting over the web and the usual sharing and embedding features. Zoho Show also has automatic version tracking.

NOTE: At first glance, formatting choices seem limited in comparison with some of the other tools in this roundup.

AuthorSTREAM

AuthorSTREAM has both a web and a desktop app and allows you to upload PowerPoint slides so you can do more with them..

The tool includes public, private and social media sharing and the ability to password-protect presentations so that only those people you choose can see them. It includes live broadcast, analytics, the creation of multiple customized channels, multiple video formats and uploads to YouTube, Vimeo and others.

Other Online Presentation Tools

Still not satisfied? In addition to the options listed above, the tools below may also prove useful alternatives:

Empressr has the standard presentation features and allows the use of video and audio. Collaboration and sharing are included, as are analytics. It’s hard to tell whether the tool is supported, because the blog hasn’t been updated since 2010, but it remains a popular choice for those looking to improve their PowerPoint presentations.

HelloSlide creates automatic audio for your presentation from your typed text and can translate it with the click of a button, giving your content even greater reach.

Jux is an image based storytelling tool that looks great on a tablet or large screen. It could be useful for companies with great visuals. Update: Jux has announced that it will close from August 31, 2013.

myBrainShark enables the addition of URLs, polls, surveys and more to an existing PowerPoint presentation as well as some editing of slides, transitions and effects. These are limited in the free edition.

myPlick has a three-step process for uploading slides and audio, syncing and publishing/sharing. It does not appear to have any additional customization options.

PresentMe lets users import a presentation file and deliver and record the presentation using their webcam. The tool then combines them so that you can share to social media or view on a mobile device. It provides analytics too.

PreZentit is a browser-based tool which allows easy presentation creation, collaboration and sharing. Each presentation exists as HTML, allowing for manual editing if you need it. The current tool is unsupported as a new version is supposed to be on the way, but it is still online and usable.

SlideBoom is available in two versions. The ad-supported free version includes audio, video, animations and the ability to make graphical annotations on your slides. Analytics, private group sharing and additional security are Pro features.

TimeGlider is not a presentation tool but a timeline creator with a free version so it could be the right web tool for time-based presentations. It works best for short timelines; those with a lot of content can end up looking crowded.

Vcasmo allows you to upload slides and audio or video narration and combine them in a single presentation. It does not appear to include collaboration features, though you can stream your video from its content delivery network. Exporting your video, embed protection and customized branding are paid features.

Vuvox allows you to create dynamic media-rich interactive presentations by collating images, audio and video via its Collage tool. [Editor’s note: Vuvox is no longer available. It was shut down October 2013.]

Zentation syncs slides and video to provide a presentation video you can upload to YouTube.

Now you… Have you got any other favorite online presentation tools? What would you add to this list?

DON’T MISS OUT

Sharon Hurley Hall is a professional freelance writer and blogger. Her career has spanned more than 20 years, including stints as a journalist, academic writer, university lecturer and ghost writer. Connect with Sharon on her website.

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Great article, Sharon. I represent Mikogo.com and we posted an article about how you can take your online presentations to the next level using Prezi. Check it out and let us know what you think! https://www. mikogo.com/2014/12/10/online-presentations-with-prezi/

Great list Sharon, thanks a lot.
I work in Advertisement Agency where every single day we do presentations for our customers. We use Power Point mostly, sometimes Prezi, Keynote…. Each time we are trying to inspire and engage our customer using new technology, new tools. Recently I found new presentation tool – Voiceboard (http:/www.voiceboard.info), amazing tool, which allows you to include amazing interactive media, such as 3D models, maps, documents, websites and any other web based apps that the internet has to offer, directly into your existing presentation slides. Also it gives you freedom to control your presentation with voice and swipe gestures using your mobile phone. I am using it and learning the same time… For my next presentation I want to show and do my presentation for my clients. You should try as well 🙂 I downloaded from the above link.

wow! thank you Sharon, Kathryn and all of you, for sharing this. It’s very timely for me. I am new to prezi too, all your comments helped me, because I am about to give up on it.. I will try again and get the hang of it, and will try others too. cheers!

Recently, there is another software named Academic Presenter. It gives the same possibility as Prezi but supports Unicode characters and the bottom line is being free. As opposed to Prezi which uses flash technology as the base, Academic Presenter relies on graphic card power and uses DirectX.
you can find and download it from here.

Thank you for this list! I am really not familiar to some of these presentation tools but I will love to check them out. Prezi is my personal favorite because I see how it literally wow my audience. Everything in it is awesome, you just need patience on the first time you use it. These tools have different and unique features that will be appropriate depending on how you plan to use it. It is nice to see that these tools help us very well and makes sharing very convenient. Thanks to your introduction on these tools. I will surely use this blog when I decide what to use among these tools.

Hi Sharon, I love to use Slideshare to feature some of the PowerPoint templates we offer on showeet.com. Prezi is a great tool, but I personnally quickly abandonned it as I am not found of too much animation on a single presentation…

I searched a lot of information about interactive presentation and your article was very useful. Before I didn’t know soch a thing as Zoho Show. It seems easy to use. For a moment I am very interested in Close Loom Marketing (CLM), to get and gather feedback from my clients while I am doing presenation and after to use that information for next communication. Now I am trying Cluum, interactive presentation tool. It works with CLM function. What do you about it? Do you know something else what can help to collect feedback?

Would be interested in hearing opinions from anyone using any of these solutions in a face to face sales scenario, and thoughts on strenghts / weaknesses. Morso if anyone uses agencies to prepare their sales materials, and has to put materials through legal compliance.

I know you posted a while ago, but, this info is right on time for me. I needed a way to add my narrated powerpoint to my portfolio site. Just noticed I may not be able to use my Google Drive account. I’ll ck out Slideshare.

Thanks for this article! Nowadays here are a lot of presentations tools.
Here comes a new website – you should also have a look on it: slideee.com/
I hope that it will be useful. I really looking forward to it! 🙂

pls, Sharon Hall I want you to help me to how to answer this question givinig to me by my lecture.
‘ Presentations are best forms to selling products and services. It adds graphical impression, combined text, video, audio and images to make a complete advertisement to convince a potential customer. Discuss the various tools to make a presentation achieve the features described above.

I have been experimenting with different platforms and Prezi is awesome for creating interesting content but if you want to slide sharing goes social during the presentation try an audience respose systeme like sopreso.com for exemple, which is one of the best ones.
I I’ve already used it and I love it. I mean it’s the perfect way for getting feedback during and also after your presentation and it’s fun and easy to work with.

Hey Veronika, I like that you mentioned Sopreso because you can use all of the softwares mentined above and still see the benefits of Sopreso since it is just an additional tool. You don’t need to install it, learn the mechanics of it, spend hours and hours on understanding it, you just run it in sync with your presentation and then pretty much that’s it.

The thing it does is sharing your presentation with your audience in real-time. I guess, now they relaunched their website, it looks awesome. I used it for one of my university projects and it made my life so much simpler. You don’t have to wait in awkward silence for someone to ask a question because they can post their inquiries online and anonimously if they wish directly to the slides. After the presentation you can project the questions and answer them in order without the “raise your hand if you have any more questions”. So elegant. I liked using it.

Thank to all for sharing such a usefull list.
It will help me out for creating my company presentaion.
I want to upload my company presentation on my company website, can you suggest which software will be best.

Thanks for the list.
I also been using a web app called EWC Presenter; This is a great tool to create visual and interactive content. Using Presenter anyone with little to no design knowledge can create professional Presentations, Presumes, Infographics, Interactive Resumes and everything in between.

Sharon, I am very pleased to share with you our PresentationTube project http://presentationtube.com for producing and sharing video presentations. Very useful for e-learning purposes. Received the World Summit Award 2013

Hi Sharon. This is a very good list. I’d also share another platform to share PowerPoint and PDF presentations online. It is SlideOnline.com – We have extensively used it to showcase our free PowerPoint templates available on SlideHunter.com – This is also a free resource for PowerPoint presentations with free business templates and diagrams for MS Office 2010 and 2013.

I could have a live presentation ready to share in a matter of seconds. The coolest part was everything from Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel to OpenOffice Writer, Impress, Calc even Google Docs is handled in the exact same way. Because this works purely in a browser, most of my participants enjoyed watching my presentation on their iPhones, Androids, even iPads. Few yet were impressed they could use their old browsers, and for first time had nothing to setup or configure at all!

Upload, and Share.

Some corporate organizations might want to take a look at support for Visio, and Microsoft Project as well. It was a relief not having to ask my participants if they have Visio, or Project installed.

It seems to have grown quite popular amongst young entrepreneurs who collaborate ideas, some self-employed individuals such as teachers, but some corporate organizations seem to favor Docs9 coupled with Skype for most of their online meetings. It has been a huge time saver for many.

Docs9 take on collaboration is a fresh one. Our research shows most effective discussions happen when focus centers around a main host with one single topic. This gives a complete different perspective to what other online presentation tools fall short of providing. Docs9 aim is to let people express their ideas, get across a point. This is what differentiates Docs9 from just being another online presentation tool.

In many ways Docs9 is trying to break free of today’s online collaboration platforms, and most of who have used it have been very impressed by the concept, and the possibilities introduced with Docs9.

These are great! I have been experimenting with different platforms and while Prezi is definitely awesome for creating interesting “slides”, if you want more of a “video” try GoAnimate.com or PowToon.com. I have used both and love them. They are perfect for making demo/explainer videos for your landing pages. And (warning: shameless plug coming) you can get a professional voice over for your presentations quickly, easily, and really, really affordably at VoiceBunny.com. (I’d be happy to give you a gift code as well). Thanks again for the article! There are many here I haven’t tried yet. 🙂

Excellent list Sharon. I’ve recently converted a Prezi into a video which looks far better than your traditional PowerPoint slideshow.
Kathryn – while Prezi is a great tool from a visual standpoint, try and pick a “calm” day to work on it ….it can get frustrating but once you’ve got the hang of it, you’re all good.

Yes, I agree, Sharon: Prezi can be tedious to work with in the beginning, though after a certain amount of raging out in front of the blank canvass one’ll get the hang of it. It happened to me many times though that it was just not the tool for a quick slideshow. But afterall, the looks of it, wow… And you’ll be so proud after your first Prezi-presentation hits the big screen! 🙂